Sber gets crypto exchange status in Russia, with first trading products set for December 1

Sber has received permission to exchange cryptocurrencies after Russia’s central bank added the lender to the register of crypto exchange providers. That matters for high-risk payments because it gives a major bank a formal role in trading and custody inside Russia’s new regulated crypto framework, instead of the old “just don’t touch it” approach.

1. Sber can now buy and sell cryptocurrency on its own behalf. The bank plans to launch its first products on December 1, after being included by the Central Bank of Russia in the register of crypto exchange providers.
2. In October, Sber also joined the register of digital depositories, which allows it to register clients’ crypto assets. The exchange register currently includes 9 organizations, including VTB and T-Invest Lab.
3. The two registrations cover different parts of the same market: one for trading, one for custody. That lets Sber offer both exchange and depository services, and it comes after the bank also started work on a crypto wallet earlier this year.
4. The move is another step away from the Central Bank’s 2022 proposal to ban domestic crypto exchanges and stop Russian financial intermediaries from dealing with cryptocurrencies. Instead, the law that took effect on September 1 creates a regulated market with banks, brokers, exchanges, and digital depositories.
5. Crypto payments inside Russia are still banned. The Central Bank says that from July next year, crypto transactions will have to go through registered intermediaries, which would effectively rule out peer-to-peer transactions conducted through Russian bank accounts. Sber is already testing BTC, ETH, USDT and other major tokens in its app, although the final list of allowed coins will be set by the Central Bank.

For PSPs and banks watching Russia, the important detail is not just that crypto activity is being permitted, but that it is being pulled into a licensed perimeter. Trading, custody, and settlement are being separated and assigned to registered entities, which is usually where payment controls start to harden.